the space between our words
by Noel Charming
Summary: In a world where Rin lives, and Obito dies, Sasuke has a second chance at family after the massacre. SasuSaku. KakaRin.
1. Prologue

I honestly had no idea where this story came from. Prologue is in Rin's POV, but the rest is in Sasuke's.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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**Prologue.**

Shinobi marry young. They have children late. For Rin and Kakashi, they get at least one right.

When they adopt little Sasuke before he's even discharged from the hospital, it's a spur of the moment decision. He's a tiny thing with rounded cheeks and stick-like arms and legs. As much as the other medics whisper about his similarities to his older brother, he looks an awful lot like Obito, too. It's a bad reason to help a kid, a guilty-spawned connection, but they already couldn't help Minato and Kushina's boy; not only were they too young, but Kakashi was a mess, and for Rin, no one wants two Jinchuriki in such close proximity all the time. They're older now, though—married with stable positions, and stable psychiatric evaluations.

The Sandaime hands Sasuke over with nothing more than a "good luck."

Rin explains the situation as gently as she can. "Me and my husband knew your family, Sasuke," she says. "I know we're just strangers now, and our house isn't much, but we'll keep you safe. Will you come with me?"

It's a real feat, getting Sasuke to react to anything, but his eyes raise from his lap at the word "safe." Outside of one panicked ramble the first time he woke, he hasn't said a word. His brother did something to his head so powerful even Kakashi couldn't say what it was, and it's going to take him a long time to recover.

After a moment, Sasuke nods, gaze drifting to the wall, and allows Rin to take his hand. Neither she nor Kakashi know a thing about children, but if they could figure out marriage, then they can figure out this, too.

.

"Should we hold him back the year, or just this semester?"

It's a reasonable question, but still makes Rin pause, because they should've thought of this earlier. As his head medical-nin, it's not as though his nightmares or trauma are anything new for her. "Well, he's already ahead a year," she says, glancing to Sasuke's bedroom, which used to be the guest room rarely ever used. The doorway is down the hall, but visible from the living area. "Either way, he'll be put back with his age group. We could just wait to see how he recovers?"

Kakashi scratches the back of his head. "I did this, too," he says, "after my dad, you know. Didn't take my long for me."

To be fair, Rin's not sure if Kakashi's ever been normal. By the time his father committed suicide, he was already a shinobi, and hadn't been tortured. "Developing the Sharingan like that, though," she says. "He burned everything into his memory."

"We can decide by enrollment for the new semester," he says. "We'll have to make an official decision on his name whenever we put in an official form."

As of now, Sasuke's in a state of limbo with his family name. Traditionally, adopted children take the name of their adoptive parents, but he's technically heir to one of Konoha's founding clans."We'll leave it up to him," she says. "Sasuke's old enough to make his own decisions."

"Yeah, guess you're right," Kakashi says. "We'll just have to wait and see."

If Sasuke retains the name Uchiha, he stays future heir to the Uchiha clan. If he changes it to Hatake, then adoptive or not, he'll be heir to the considerably new, smaller Hatake clan. At the same time, developing the Sharingan still means that in some way, he would have his birthright anyway. Rin doesn't understand politics all that well, but she did make sure to look this up when filing the paperwork.

Whatever he chooses, though, it means that he's going to be one of the most politically powerful twelve-year-olds in Konoha once he graduates, and the thought of that is more daunting than it should be.

.

In the aftermath of witnessing the massacre and the genjutsu his brother put him through, Sasuke had the potential to go one of two ways: a tight bundle of anger, or a blank depression. He goes the latter route, which makes recovery both easier and harder. Easier because his reactions are predictable, and Rin and Kakashi can connect with him quicker, but harder because the steady lightening of his personality is at least partially caused by repression. Parenting is difficult enough without the flashbacks and panic attacks added in.

The nightmares grow less and less frequent, at least, but Rin would prefer waking up in the middle of the night to having to talk to Sasuke without facing him because the panic automatically activated the Sharingan. He physically and mentally couldn't recreate what his brother forced on him, but she made the unfortunate mistake of assuming just because his eyes had taken the form didn't mean they were active. She found out the truth the hard way.

Two idiot chuunin out on the street broke into a fight, and the sound of metal hitting wood was enough to trap him in his head. Moments like this are easier when Kakashi's around to dampen the memory. "There's nothing here that can hurt you, Sasuke," she says, sitting at his side. "It's March, middle of the day, nice and sunny, just you and me—it's just Rin, Sasuke. You're safe—Did I ever tell you about your cousin? Second cousin, really. Obito. He used to wear goggles on his head."

She breaks off into short stories about Obito, and the adventures they had together as a team, and steadily, he relaxes from the sound of her voice. "Rin?" he says, Sharingan deactivating, and eyes glazed over.

"Yeah," she says, reaching over to stroke his hair above his ear. "I'm right here, Sasuke."

It's a surprised when, suddenly, he scoots over, and wraps his arms around her. He doesn't say anything, but he doesn't need to, because she understands his thank you anyway.

.

By the six week mark, Sasuke starts talking more, and takes to both Rin and Kakashi better than expected. Kakashi says Sasuke's clinging to the first people to care about him, and it sounds like something someone else said first. It's probably true, too—from what she managed to gather from his past Academy instructor, Sasuke was so close to his brother as a result from his parents somewhat negligible attitudes towards him.

"Kakashi," he says on one of the rare nights they're able to eat as a family, tugging on Kakashi's shirt as Rin calculates bills, "can I have extra tomatoes, please?"

Without looking down from his vegetable chopping, Kakashi answers, "Are you sure? We won't have any for tomorrow."

"That's okay," Sasuke says, and when he smiles, Rin doesn't care what anyone says. Those dimples are closer to Obito than they are to Itachi. "They won't be as good tomorrow."

"Look at that, Rin," Kakashi says. "Sasuke's learning to fight with logic. What're the other Academy kids going to do against that?"

"Fight with non-logic, probably," Rin says, thinking back to a third year spitball incident. Though they have yet to make a decision about when they're going to enroll Sasuke, he's certainly been asking about it enough over the past week. "Kakashi, stop it with all the variety missions. They pay is just too weird to add up in my head."

She knows he's smiling without having having to see his face. "I can't," he says. "How else are we going to pay for eggplants and tomatoes, right, Sasuke?"

Though Sasuke probably doesn't understand finances yet, this involves tomatoes, so he says, "Of course," immediately. She rolls her eyes.

"Where'd you learn to cook, Kakashi?" he asks, and Kakashi answers that he never learned, it's just that he can do anything.

Rin finishes up on the income before starting the mortgage and utilities, half-listening to the boys discussing miso soup with added vegetables.

.

Sasuke has a nightmare so bad he's barely breathing, and clings to Rin, face pressed into her stomach. "I'm just really scared," he says, more of a thought than vocalized statement, and with some help from Kakashi, they get Sasuke back to sleep twenty minutes later.

It's past two in the morning, but neither of them have anything to do tomorrow. After a long moment of silence, Rin says, "That's why he's having so much trouble. He feels like he can't defend himself. Itachi's still out there." She's guessing he feels like he can't protect them, either, even though it hasn't been long.

The second silence is just as long as the first. "I can train him," Kakashi says finally. Sometimes she thinks that if he'd been in Konoha at the time of massacre, if he'd been on the extraction squad, Itachi never would've made it through the following day alive. "Or, we could. Just above graduation level basics. It might help him feel safer. It'll help him learn how to use the Sharingan, too."

"This soon?" Training him is inevitable; leaving him to learn the Sharingan on his own sounds dangerous, but even with help, it isn't much better while he's in such a delicate state. Kekkei genkai aren't to be taken lightly. "You really think that'll help?"

"It helped me."

In more ways the one, Kakashi has more experience with this than she does. "All right," she says, and it's decided.

.

From what Rin heard, Sasuke might've skipped a year, but he lacked the genius of his brother and most of his clan, similar to Obito. His recovery made it impossible to tell whether or not that was true, and she should've known not to listen to idle gossip.

All it takes is one practice, and she realizes she's rarely been so wrong about anything.

She watches as he runs up the tree, following hers and Kakashi's example. "Did he just?" she says, and her husband nods.

"That was the Sharingan copying," he says, "at the first practice."

Sasuke smiles at them from the opposite tree, bright and dimpled, and whoever compared him with his brother was an idiot.

.

When enrollment comes around for the new semester, Rin and Kakashi agree Sasuke's recovered enough that it might be good for him to be around children of his own age again. On the day they plan to have the conversation about everything with him, though, she's called away for an emergency at the hospital. It's hours before she returns, drained of chakra from the number of chuunin exam participants she had to heal and stinking of disinfectant from her quick clean up job, and she finds Kakashi lying on the couch reading one of Jiraiya's trashy romance novels. Sasuke's bedtime is nine-thirty, and it's already eleven.

Kakashi sits up when she enters, hair even messier than usual. "Are you all right?" he asks as she slips out of her coat, hanging it on one of the hooks by the door. This is his way of asking if anyone died.

"Yeah," she says, running her fingers through her hair, undoing the knot on the forehead protector. "I guess some Kiri-nin tried summoning with a new contract, the Summon wouldn't listen, and before anyone could do anything, it went on a rampage through the Forest of Death. It was just a lot of blood loss and poison extraction."

During the short two year period she worked with Kakashi in ANBU, she once detoxed an entire squad of ten from a particularly vicious poison gas courtesy of a few Suna-nin. She's been the go-to medic for extraction ever since. It wouldn't be such a problem if that weren't exhausting.

"Stay here," Kakashi says, pulling her to him and onto the couch the moment she's in arm's reach, before standing himself. "I'll get the leftovers. We got udon from Ichiraku."

Rin follows directions, folding her legs and massaging at her right ankles, sore after standing for fourteen hours without break. "How'd it go for the two of you?" she says, watching him fish around in the drawer for matching chopsticks. At an early age, her mother instilled in her the necessity for decorative kitchenware, despite her plan to approach aesthetic plainly in any other instance. "Please tell me you had an easier day with Sasuke than I just did with my patients."

As he walks back over, bowl in hands and chopsticks balanced across it, he says, "Uh, well, it was...interesting. He was happy to hear he was allowed to go back, even if he was a little disappointed that he'd be put into his normal age group, but he had weird reaction to what name we were going to use. Chose Hatake, by the way."

By now, Rin can usually guess what Sasuke's reactions to something are going to be, but the subject of his clan name was a grey area. "What do you mean?" she says as he hands her the bowl, giving her a quick kiss as he takes a seat at her side. "What was so weird?"

"He was, I don't know, mad," Kakashi answers, and she starts on her food, which tastes heavenly after a day of hospital food. "I don't think I've ever seen him angry before. It wasn't at me—he has sharper hearing than I thought, picked up a lot of gossip from when people see him. I think the direct quote is 'why would I want anything to do with him?' He didn't know he was still technically Uchiha Sasuke."

"Oh, hell." Street gossip, in the beginning, always involved Sasuke and his brother together, inseparable. She hadn't thought about how hard it would've been for him to hear his new Academy instructor call him by it every day. "Well, Hatake Sasuke. I like it. Does this mean he can have a nin-dog contract of his ow—Kakashi, no."

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A few days before Sasuke's new semester, Kakashi teaches him how to Summon.

Rin isn't given a say. At least the puppy is cute, she thinks, and watches it rub its face against Sasuke's cheek as he laughs.

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Now that the Academy year's started, Rin can take longer shifts at the hospital. She usually arrives home not long after Sasuke does, and finds him doing homework on the living room floor. Sometimes Kakashi's there, sometimes he's not.

Today was uneventful, filled with early September stuffy noses and sore throats, which means it was short. There's an envelop on the floor near Sasuke's homework, half under the couch, and she can just make out Hatake on the visible half part. Kakashi's on a mission, not here. "Sasuke," she says after they exchange their usual greetings, reaching over to retrieve the envelop, "why were you trying to hide this?"

It's from the Academy. She can tell by the paper. "Oh," Sasuke says, peeling his attention away from the homework with questions so easy he's always bored within ten minutes. "I wasn't trying to hide it. Just dropped it."

Classes started month ago, which means this can only be his first take-home scores and ranking. "Then you don't mind if I open it?"

Surprised, Sasuke says, "You want to? They're just scores."

"Well, it is addressed to me and Kakashi," she says, sitting cross-legged across from him as he sits straighter, eyebrows drawing in. "Students are given these so they can't lie to their parents."

Though the paper is folded and packed away, the envelop isn't sealed, and Rin removes the handwritten list. She smiles when she sees the results. "Top of your class," she says. "Sasuke, this is great."

"Really?"

She blinks, and looks up. His eyes are wide, and she rarely sees him this expressive. "The Academy isn't easy," she says. "This is a real accomplishment. I'm really proud of you. Kakashi's going to be, too."

When his surprise changes into a smile, she doesn't need him to say it for her to understand that isn't a comment he's used to. "I'll do even better next time," he tells her, and when she glances back down at the scores, she doesn't see how he possibly could.

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Rin was never close to her parents, too caught up in the war and kunoichi lifestyle Dad disapproved of while Mom was busy with the civilian secondary school. Kakashi never knew his mother, and his father committed suicide when he was young. Neither of them had anyone to give the warning that children grow up fast.

Suddenly Sasuke's ten, retaining his thinness but on the taller end for his age, and if it weren't for his habit to freeze up during combative lessons, he easily could've graduated by now. In a way, both she and Kakashi are glad he hasn't; too many people were sent out into the world young during the war. That's almost unheard of now, and Sasuke's been through enough. When Itachi killed his first person, he was ten, too. They don't need Sasuke to have anymore connections to his brother after he's divorced as many as he can already.

His anti-social attitude's been a point of worry for her, too, though Kakashi says he'll grow out of it eventually. Sasuke's so reluctant to be around anyone other than them, in fact, that it's surprising when he looks up midway through his home, and says, "I think I made in a friend?" in a way that's phrased as a question.

The look on Kakashi's face is nothing short of an I told you so, that bastard. "That's good," he says. "Who is he?"

With a pinched expression, Sasuke says, "She," as if just to surprise Rin more. "Lessons went co-ed today, and we got paired for one of those stupid 'ice breakers,' and I don't know. She's not that bad."

For someone like him, "not that bad" is a big deal. "What do you mean?" she asks, settling more comfortably into her position on her seat at the kitchen table.

"She's really smart. Well, book smart," Sasuke says. "She's way smarter than anyone else in my year."

"Smart's good," Kakashi says. "So what's the problem?"

Scrunching up his nose, Sasuke says, "Her hair's pink."

Before she can stop herself, Rin's laughing, knocking against Kakashi who sighs in exasperation, and Sasuke's cheeks are tomato red. He better bring her around some time, this smart pink-haired girl, because Rin needs to meet the person worthy enough to catch her reclusive son's attention.

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Eventually, Rin does meet Haruno Sakura, because Kakashi's irresponsible as fuck, and gave into Sasuke's pleading to teach him the Chidori. The girl comes over when he misses a day of classes, and she was worried, and walks into the sight of Rin transferring chakra back into him. "What're you doing?" the girl asks, curious, as Rin stands. "No, actually, what did he do?"

"He just pushes himself too hard sometimes," she answers. "I was helping him get his strength back up. You must be Sakura."

Sakura snaps her gaze away from unconscious friend, and nods. "Haruno Sakura," she says, and bows slightly. "It's very nice to meet you, Rin-san. So he'll be okay?"

With a nod of her own, Rin says, "He always is. Sasuke's told me so much about you. How's your semester going?"

Though it starts awkward, their conversation turns to something genuine by the time he wakes, and Rin quietly leaves the room, giving the kids the space to talk on their own.

.

Sasuke finally manages to fight without issue, and won't talk about it. After Rin and Kakashi get details from Sakura, they whisper-fight in the bathroom, the further place from Sasuke's bedroom.

For as long as they've known each other, Rin and Kakashi haven't argued with each other often, and that didn't change after marriage, regardless of what her mother said would happen considering they wed at twenty and nineteen, respectively. Still, she hasn't kept it a secret from him that she doesn't think Sasuke's mentally ready to handle anything stronger than just above graduation basics. "I told you this was a bad idea," she says, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes. "End a fight in a less than a minute—I thought we agreed not to let him graduate before twelve, Kakashi."

In a way, twelve seems young, too, though it's standard now. Here, he has a friend, even if it's only one, and despite the edge of sadness that's always wrapped around him, he seems lighter. Rin's not letting anyone take that away from him earlier than they need to.

"I helped train Iruka," Kakashi says, pinching the bridge of his nose. "This is bad, but I bet I can convince him into keeping Sasuke where he is. It's not like Konoha's desperate for new genin."

When Rin and Obito became genin, it was a rush, because too many shinobi had died. He wouldn't have passed otherwise. "He learns fast," she says. "We can stick to training him in what he already knows, or to taijutsu, or something, but if he proves even half of what he can do, they'll pull him out for a premature graduation in the middle of the day without asking us first."

"This wasn't intentional," Kakashi says, then adds, "You're the one who suggested training him in the first place."

"I didn't mean Summoning and the Chidori."

"Summoning is a Hatake childhood tradition!"

Sighing, Rin says, "Sasuke's a lot more delicate than you were. Knowing his luck, they'll give him Gai, and as much I like him, imagine the two of them together."

Graduating at five was pretty fucked up, in her opinion, but bringing that up is the number one way to escalate an argument. While he doesn't see it as anything to be proud of, it's still what led to him meeting Minato-sensei, and that means the world to him. They both have subjects they avoid. Everyone in their generation does. Sasuke's going to be one of the few people in this new generation with avoidance issues already, too.

Kakashi breathes deep, and calms quickly. "I'll talk to Iruka," he says again. "He owes me a favor anyway."

That's not a guarantee, but it's better than nothing. Even if the person Sasuke knocked out with a perfectly done, non-Sharingan influenced genjutsu was Uzumaki Naruto, it was enough to catch the attention of instructors. Kakashi's not the only one who forgot exactly how cold the Academy could be.

.

It's a late Tuesday in May when Kakashi's assigned his first genin team out the blue, and fails them immediately. "I did the bell test," he says, final word garbled by her kiss. "All ended up fighting each other."

Not long before they adopted Sasuke, Kakashi left ANBU, unable to take it anymore after a mission he can't tell her about. If he was ever going to be assigned as a genin sensei, it should've been then. "Okay," she says, confused. "No offense, but you don't really fit the job description."

More than that, he has a son. Maybe not a biological one, but a son nonetheless. Rarely do genin sensei have children. He's a little unbalanced, too, despite what his psych eval says, not to mention strict; she won't be surprised if he fails every team sent his way.

Then it clicks, so obvious she feels stupid for not realizing it immediately. "We're not the only ones who know Sasuke's a mess," she says before he can, "and you have the Sharingan. Familial relation or not, you're the only person who take him. That's it, isn't it?"

"Partially," Kakashi answers. "I mean, the Sandaime didn't really say anything, but think about who's in Sasuke's year."

"Minato and Kushina's son," she says, "and rumor had it the Sharingan had some form of control. Right."

He sighs, running his fingers through his hair, and she takes his hand in hers. "Wouldn't let us near the kid," he says, "and now they're shoving me at him for something I'm not even sure will work. An implant isn't as strong as a natural—Sasuke."

That, at least, she understands instantly. "He said Naruto was worst in the class," she says quickly. "If they don't pass at the same time, it won't matter."

Before the discussion can go any further, Sasuke enters, Sakura just a step behind him, laughing in that sweet way of hers. They remind Rin of her and Kakashi, just a bit, and she can't help but wonder what will happen when they're separated later this year.

.

As expected, Sasuke graduates on the first try. Kakashi gets his team list the next morning and chokes on his coffee.

Without saying anything, he slides it across the table, and Rin laughs. "Highest overall scores," she says, "and highest written scores. Why am I not surprised?"

"This is going to be a nightmare," Kakashi says, grimacing. "Lowest scores or not, no one's dumb enough not to realize we have the same clan name."

"At least Sakura and Sasuke are already friends," she says, handing it back. "They might even pass legally. Don't be too late, Kakashi. Sasuke's going to be embarrassed enough already."

They both know that's part of the fun, though. She stands, ready to start to her day at the hospital, and deposits her mug in the sink. "Washing dishes is a good excuse," she says.

"Helping old ladies across the street is, too," he says, and kisses her goodbye.

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A/N: sorry for any mistakes! I'm mildly dyslexic. It's a problem.


	2. Chapter 1

Sorry for the delayed update! I'm entering the final month of the semester, so everything's just really hectic. Literally all I ever do is write essays.

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**Chapter One. **

Sasuke knew, going into graduation, that Kakashi was his future sensei because of the Sharingan. Having Sakura on his team was a nice surprise, but there's Naruto, too, and Sasuke hadn't realized it was even possible to be embarrassed around someone like his classmate. At least Sakura stopped the trick with the eraser, he keeps telling himself, but he knows the moment Kakashi says his name, the accusations of favoritism are going to start.

Right now they're a little away from the Academy on an outcrop Rin used to bring Sasuke when the house started making him feel claustrophobic. Sakura's in the middle, taking the place that would inevitably mean he'd have to look Kakashi in the eye, while he just stands leaning against the rail probably cackling to himself on the inside. "Okay," he says, voice monotone to most, but with an edge of amusement unnoticeable to anyone who doesn't know him. "Let's begin with introductions—names, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future. Stuff like that. Start from left to right."

As Sakura starts to say, "But Kakashi-san, I mean sensei," Sasuke elbows her, wanting to prolong the inevitable. She narrows her eyes, rubbing her arm, but doesn't say anything else.

Naruto doesn't notice. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto," he says, overly cheerful for eight-thirty in the morning. "I like ramen. What I like even better is when Iruka-sensei buys me ramen. I dislike the three minutes it takes to cook ramen. My dreams for the future?" He adjusts his forehead protector. "I'm going to be the Hokage one day!"

When Sasuke doesn't laugh immediately, he thinks he deserves a lot of credit. Naruto, the worst in the class, ever becoming Hokage? That's about as likely as Sasuke himself ever getting the position, and he's best in the year. Though Sakura's mouth twitches, she doesn't say anything either, and looks back to Kakashi when introductions turn to her.

"I'm Haruno Sakura," she says. "I like hanging out with Sasuke-kun." Naruto glances past her, glare weak but there, and Sasuke wasn't aware his classmate had a thing for his friend. "I dislike the Academy's curriculum formatting and segregating classes until the age of ten, because it's what causes so many girls to drop out. I guess my hobby is doing those trivia books. And my dream is to become a great medical-nin like Rin-san, and save lives every day!"

Finally, Kakashi actually smiles. Sakura grins back. "Your turn," he says, nodding to Sasuke, amusement evident now.

"Hatake Sasuke," he says, and feels his eyebrow twitch. It's too early for this. "I like, I don't know. Tomatoes. I don't like this. My dream is to get those stupid bells."

In truth, his dream is to be as good as Kakashi one day, but it's not like he's going to say that in front of Sakura, whether she's his friend or not, and definitely not Naruto.

"You have to introduce yourself now," Naruto says. "Who are you?"

This is it. Sasuke prepares himself for the worst. "My name's Hatake Kakashi—"

"Wait, _what_?"

"I like spending time with my family." Kakashi looks to Sasuke, who quickly averts his eyes, as Sakura giggles and Naruto sputters. "I dislike...well, that's a story for another day. My hobby is...hm. There's no reason to talk about my dreams."

"Hatake and Hatake," he says, looking between the two of them. "But you two look nothing alike. Are you brothers? How are you on the same team?"

Sakura's laughing too hard to answer for him; Sasuke's just embarrassed. Walking over, Kakashi puts a hand on his head, and says, "It's a complicated situation. You've never mentioned your parents in class before? I'm hurt, Sasuke."

There aren't any favoritism comments. Instead, Naruto stares, probably looking for similarities hidden by the mask and wondering why Kakashi's so young, but no one explains Sasuke's adopted. "It never came up in conversation," he says, ducking away from Kakashi's hand. "Aren't you going to explain about the test now?"

Before Naruto can ask anymore questions, Kakashi breaks off into an explanation about the bell test, causing enough of a distraction, and Sasuke pretends he isn't as mortified as he is.

.

Even though Kakashi's going to inevitably be two hours late, maybe more, Rin made Sasuke go to the training grounds at eight instead of letting him sleep in. By the time Kakashi arrives at ten, Naruto's stopped with the personal questions, and Sasuke and Sasuke are half asleep against each other.

He knows what the bell test is, of course, and how to pass it, but the others don't, and Kakashi does make it sound more intimidating than expected. Convincing Naruto to play along will be hard, and annoying, but Sakura shouldn't be. "We need to work together," Sasuke says once he gets her into the bushes. "The two bells thing is a lie. Can you get him if I use myself as a distraction?"

"Probably," Sakura says. "He's got a hopeless crush on me."

That's oddly annoying to hear, but Sasuke pushes the feeling down, and runs out the same moment Naruto's thrown back. "Attacking me directly, Sasuke?" Kakashi says, putting away his book. "You wouldn't be planning something, would you?"

Sasuke rolls his eyes, but activates his Sharingan. Even without using his own Sharingan, though, Kakashi's still better, because he's faster and taught Sasuke everything he knows, and taijutsu only works for so long. When he switches to shurikenjutsu, Kakashi frowns, and the fight turns into a real one.

Then come Naruto's clones.

It's a weird fight, and would be weirder if Sasuke used his stronger techniques, but he doesn't. Though Kakashi keeps up easily, Naruto acts as a distraction force, his clones a whirlwind created almost as fast as they're destroyed. Sakura comes in from behind, and below, when Sasuke jumps, Kanton at the ready, Kakashi disappears with a Shunshin. There're two chakra signatures, one to either side of the three them in the trees. and despite the Sharingan, Sasuke doesn't know which one is real. Figuring it out might be easier if he summoned one of the nin-dogs, but he's dealt with enough comments from Naruto today already.

"Take some of your clones and go right," Sasuke says, looking to the real Naruto. "Head to the oak. Sakura, go with them. Watch out for genjutsu. Naruto, with me."

"Wait, when did you become the leader?" Naruto says, and Sasuke reminds himself that he can't hit his teammates.

"Since I grew up with him," Sasuke answers, and tugs on Naruto's sleeve. Sakura nods once, determination spelled across her face, and half of Naruto's clones go with her anyway when she runs.

Naruto and Sasuke come across Kakashi a couple minutes later, but then the chakra signature doubles, which means they found the real him. "I'll take right?" Naruto says, and Sasuke nods.

Sasuke's used to sparring, but he knows that, unfortunately, Kakashi's less willing to actually fight him than he is Naruto. When Sasuke gets his hands around the bells, ready to tug it away, Sakura screams loud enough to distract him. Kakashi knocks him to the ground, not hard but enough to break the hold, and jumps back before Sasuke's even back on his feet. The clone fighting Naruto is gone.

"Your friend's good at dispelling genjutsu," Kakashi says as they attack together, kunai everywhere, and Sasuke's own attempts at genjutsu blocked off too quickly, "but she couldn't keep it up forever. Don't worry. It was nothing major."

To get Sakura to scream like that, it probably involved him in some way, which is just cheap. "Naruto," he says, "can you send anymore clones over there to help her out?"

"On it."

As Naruto forms the hands seal, slower than than is good for him, Sasuke distracts Kakashi with a second Kanton. He's starting to feel the strain on his chakra now, that being almost too much to handle after using the Sharingan this actively all at once. He dodges Kakashi's kick, running up the side of a tree, his last round of shuriken and kunai at the ready. Sasuke's reflexes are slowing, too, though, and in the split second slip up exhaustion causes, Kakashi destroys all of Naruto's clones in the area, and knocks the real him into the bushes.

Sasuke moves into his next attack, one of the few he learned from his original family (from his brother) without pausing to see if his new teammate is okay, and Kakashi still blocks all of them—or almost all of them. One nicks the side of his mask, surprisingly, and then Sasuke's falling forward, final kunai at the ready, ready to slice the strings attached to the bells.

The noon alarm goes off right as Kakashi's elbow hits his back, knocking him to the ground, and Sakura and Naruto come running out of the bushes. "Seriously, Sasuke?" Sakura says as Kakashi helps him up. "You were supposed to get them!"

"You mean I got kicked into a tree a bunch of times for nothing?" Naruto says. "I don't want to go back to the Academy."

That wasn't good teamwork, and Sasuke knows it. "You won't," Kakashi says, and Sasuke had expected one of those second chance situations at least. "You still aren't cohesive as a team, but you understood the purpose behind the exercise. Welcome to Team Seven."

Sakura hugs Sasuke before he can say anything, squeezing him so tight is hurts, and Naruto babbles on about how they're going to be the best team ever. Something isn't right, though, and Sasuke knows it. That was almost passing work, but it wasn't what he'd call passing.

He decides not to ask. Sometimes it's just easier that way.

.

D-ranking missions are boring, even if they are helping Sasuke with his "cooperation skills." He doesn't feel much like he's improving anything when he's sowing seeds for a farmer who keeps making puns on his surname.

"Did something happen between you and Naruto?" Kakashi asks on the way home as Sasuke picks at the seeds caught under his nails. "You two are tense around each other."

Shrugging, Sasuke says, "I don't know. I don't really care. Might be because of Sakura."

As much as Sakura likes to act like he's oblivious, he's aware enough to realize half the guys in their graduating class stared at her the same way the girls stared at him. If he sat a little closer to her than he had to sometimes because he didn't like it, well, that's none of anyone else's business but his. "Oh, does Team Seven have a love triangle already?" Kakashi says. "I remember my own team at your age. There was this one time Rin—"

"There's also that one time I beat him in a fight in under a minute that one time," Sasuke says, cutting him off before another Epic Stories From Team Seven can start. The stories wouldn't be so bad if they didn't involve some cousin he'd never heard of and his parents. "The class didn't let him live that down for a while."

After, Sakura said he should apologize for embarrassing Naruto, no matter how annoying he is, but Sasuke not only didn't care enough, but also knew how much worse an apology would make it. A person doesn't apologize for winning fairly. "Young love and rank division," Kakashi says. "Bad combination. Well, you're getting better at working together, but keep it up. I'm planning on asking for a C-ranking mission soon."

Sasuke looks up. "Really? Why?"

"C-rank missions are still traditionally non-combatant. I think Team Seven can handle something a little harder than old cat ladies and farmers with a bad sense of humor, right?"

"Right."

Like him, Kakashi strongly believes in learning by doing, and if this is supposed to be a learning exercise, Sasuke fears for the safety of his teammates already.

.

Before Team Seven leaves, they all need to stop at their separate homes to pack enough to last a week. Rin's clearly worried, doesn't bother to hide it, and blocks Sasuke before he can leave. "If it does get combative," she says, "for any reason, just remember Kakashi's there. Keep your head."

It's embarrassing that he's a genin now and both she and Kakashi act like Sasuke can't handle even the simplest things. "I know," he says, not having the time to point out Iruka-sensei and about a dozen others told him he has the skill level of a chuunin already. "Rin, I'll be fine."

She hugs him tightly. For the past six months, they've been the same height. "I love you," she says. "Hurry up."

With a quick hug back, and mumbled "love you, too," he heads out, ready to meet up with his team.

.

"Naruto, just calm down already," Sakura's saying when Sasuke notices the puddle that shouldn't be there. "It's our first time outside the walls, too, and we aren't bouncing around everywhere."

He catches Kakashi's attention when Sasuke activates his Sharingan, and the slight nod means the threat isn't just in his head. "This isn't Sasuke's first time outside the walls," Kakashi says, and doesn't have a chance to explain about disasters with the Chidori before the puddle explodes. If it weren't for the Sharingan, Sasuke would've missed the hand seals for the Kawarimi no Jutsu, but that doesn't stop him from nearly freezing at the sight of chains ripping Kakashi's body apart.

When Sasuke sees one of the enemy-nin nearing Naruto, he snaps out of it, and throws a kunai, catching the chain and pinning him to a tree. Sakura slides in front of the client, her own kunai outheld in defense, and as the second enemy-nin moves to kill Naruto despite his teammate's current situation, Sasuke meets his eye long enough to cast genjutsu. The man reels back, patting himself down as he tries to extinguish a fire consuming his body that isn't there.

As the first pulls himself away from the tree, losing the chain in the process, Naruto tosses a shuriken, hitting the enemy-nin's shoulder before he can go after Sakura. Though painful, probably, it's not enough to stop him, and Kakashi reappears in time to end the fight before Sasuke has the chance to react.

"Naruto, good recovery," Kakashi says as he ties up the two enemy-nin. Now that they're still, Sasuke gets a good look at their forehead protectors, and sees the scratches though the middle that don't make the day any better. "Sakura, your reaction time's as fast as expected with someone of your scores. Sasuke, I—"

"Good genjutsu?"

Kakashi can save the apologies for later, when they're not in front of the client and the rest of the team. "Yeah," he says, less cheerful. "And good eye spotting the puddle. I'm sorry about scaring the three of you. I needed to find out who these two were targeting." After closer inspection, he adds, "Well, you're real Kiri-nin. Tazuna-san, why do you have missing-nin after you, and why didn't you tell us?"

With a sigh, Tazuna confesses everything. Together, Team Seven convinces Kakashi to continue the mission, and Sasuke just wants a chance to prove he's not made of glass.

.

Sasuke isn't normally the type to ignore an instruction from his parents, a rule ingrained into him from his first family, but he's not going to run away while Kakashi's trapped. "I can walk on water, and the two of you can't," he says, holding Naruto back as if they're just focusing on guarding Tazuna. "Distract the clone long enough that I can get out there, and I'll free him."

Though Sakura nods, willing to accept Sasuke actually knows what he's talking about, Naruto says, "How do you plan on doing that? We can help."

"He only has one hand free," Sakura says. "Sasuke-kun knows what he's doing. What about Tazuna-san?"

"I can make a bunch of clones to circle him," he says, hopefully realizing there's not enough time to argue, and Sasuke nods. "Ready?"

The bell test was a mess; this isn't nearly as bad. After Naruto creates a dozen clones, he sends half to encircle Tazuna, and the other half to attack the clone. As they attack from above, and to the sides, and Sakura comes in from below, and Sasuke has time to run straight past, unhindered. Clones, after all, are more delicate than the real thing, and easily occupied by a couple of annoying gennin. If Zabuza's surprised, he doesn't show it, and instead raises his hand to create the seals for another one,

With the Sharingan, which doesn't require hand seals, Sasuke's faster. He activates it during the first time during the fight, too quick for Zabuza, with one hand occupied and his concentration split between two jutsu already, to counter. It doesn't give him time to dispel the genjutsu, and then his concentration's broken completely, pulling his arm from the water prison and spinning around to guard against an imaginary opponent.

Kakashi falls out, and catches himself on his feet. "We're having a talk later," he says as Zabuza comes to his senses faster than Sasuke thought he thought. "Sasuke, go."

Knowing Kakashi has it covered now, Sasuke runs back in time to avoid the double attack.

.

The talk doesn't come right away, because chakra exhaustion hits Kakashi before they even make

it to Tazuna's house. Instead, Naruto's the one to spark the awkward conversation.

Like most shinobi, Sasuke's not much for sharing how he feels, an aspect of personality that extends to his parents and Sakura. This only makes it even more uncomfortable when Naruto slips into his bedroll next to Sasuke's on the living room floor, and asks, "Are you adopted?"

It's not the first time he's gotten the question from someone his age, but it's the first time someone asked it so bluntly. "Yeah," he says, figuring they're teammates now, and Naruto will find out eventually anyway. "So what?"

There's a short silence. "Nothing," he says too quickly. "It's just, uh. You know. That Zabuza guy said Kakashi-sensei had the Sharingan, and everyone in Konoha knows what is, but that it isn't his or something? But _yours_ has got to be, well, yours, or whatever, because you can turn it on and off. Eight's not _that_ young."

The massacre happened at the end of a school year, when Sasuke was seven. Sakura was able to put together who he was after a while, but he hadn't thought Naruto was smart enough to do the same. "I don't like talking about it," Sasuke says, or mumbles. "But yeah. My parents used to be teammates, and their other teammate was my cousin. Rin heard they were going to set me up back at my old house instead of give me an apartment or something, so she and Kakashi took me in."

"They were really going to put you _back_?" Naruto says. "Oh, that's screwed up."

"We live in a walled village," Sasuke says, "and Konoha-nin are good, so they aren't dying fast enough. Preserving space is important."

Naruto's shadow shrugs. "Still screwed up," he says. "I grew up in orphan housing. Most kids there're civilians, 'cause you aren't allowed to train on the property."

"That sounds boring." He nods. "We should get some sleep. The walk back isn't going to be fun."

Having a midnight conversation about family with Naruto wasn't how Sasuke imagined ending his day. As he turns around, though, pulling the blanket to his chin, he thinks there're worse ways to fall asleep, and maybe his teammate is smarter than he realized.

.

Since Sasuke's not the type to be told off, he doesn't know how to react to Kakashi lecturing him on how irresponsible he was during the fight with Zabuza. What makes it worse is that he's right.

"I would've gotten out of it in the time it took you to get away," Kakashi says, leaning on his crutch. They're inside the guest room, afternoon sun filtering through through dust. "It wasn't impossible to break. We're probably going to deal with the two of them again. I get you were freaked out from earlier, but most situations I can get myself out of."

"It wasn't like I was trying to take him on myself or anything," Sasuke says. "It was just to distract him."

Kakashi sighs. "I know," he says. "Your teammates come first, though, if I'm put in a situation like that. You know that."

It's true, Sasuke does, but that doesn't mean he couldn't handle it, just like he handled himself during the first fight. He knows they're worried, but it's been at least a year since he had a panic attack. "I wouldn't have done anything if they couldn't take care of the clone," he says. "And you got injured anyway. How bad would you be if you had to get yourself out?"

"Probably about the same," Kakashi answers. "Whether I'm healed or not by the time they get back, I want you to promise me you won't be so reckless. This is risky and dangerous on a good day, but you don't need to make it worse."

Frowning, Sasuke says, "Fine. Then you're not allowed not pretend to be dead."

Rin dispenses hugs like they're some kind of medical cure, but Kakashi isn't as touchy, so it's surprising when his free arm wraps around Sasuke's shoulders. "I won't," he says, less aggravated and more quiet. "I promised, Sasuke."

That doesn't mean Sasuke won't have to watch Kakashi actually die one day, but it's good enough for now. Without a word, Sasuke returns the hug, and thinks he can't make any promises of his own.

.

Two weeks ago, Sasuke had never fought anyone outside of sparring in the Academy, but the fight with Zabuza's partner somehow manages to be anti-climatic anyway.

Both Kakashi and Rin, and, admittedly, Itachi before them, always explained speed as one of more important skills for a shinobi to have. As fast as Haku is, he doesn't stand a chance. Sasuke has the Sharingan. His non-Academy teachers have been living legends of the shinobi world. Most of all, he had enough natural intelligence already, and Kakashi showed him how to use it. When Haku abruptly switches to making seals with one hand, Sasuke pivots, kicking and hits the flat of his foot hard enough into the other boy's hand to crack his wrist.

He doesn't pause, and leaps back, throwing a volley of senbon needles Sasuke easily dodges. Haku must be ambidextrous, because in the moment it takes for Sasuke to evade, the cage of ice mirrors appears. With the Sharingan activated, he might not be able to copy it, but he can still analyze it, and keep up. Though Zabuza said Haku's intelligent, he doesn't know much about other kekkei genkai, apparently. Like this, Sasuke has a chance to win.

The train of thought ends abruptly when Naruto's suddenly behind him, ready to help. At least it's not Sakura, Sasuke thinks, maybe unfairly, and grabs his teammate without a word, pulling him out of the way. "You're an idiot," Sasuke says, knocking a series of needles out of the way with a kunai. Haku has a pattern, whether he realizes it or not, which means it isn't hard to guess where he's going to go. "Duck."

Somehow, Naruto does shut up whatever he was about to say, and ducks in time for Sasuke to throw the kunai he's been using as a guard. Three needles land in his arm, rendering it immobile, and a fourth in his shoulder. In the same moment, the kunai collides with Haku's stomach, and he collapses from the mirror, breaking his mask. Sasuke's prepared.

"Hey, wait, don't—"

"Clones. Destroy the mirrors."

As Haku goes to stand, and return into the closest thing he has to protection, Sasuke grabs the first weapon he can—a shuriken—and takes aim. He's been good at finding his target since he was a kid, and with Haku injured and moving slower than before, the record doesn't stop now; two shuriken points bury into the back of his knee.

Naruto's clones, more than Sasuke cares to count, fill the cage completely. It's probably supposed to be unbreakable, but there's only so much ice can do against the number his teammate creates. The ice bursts, shards of it joining needles in Sasuke's body, space too limited for him to properly dodge, and a chunk hits painfully into his head. He's on the ground before he realizes what's happening, one of the clone's feet landing directly onto his chest. Then, over the noise, he hears the unmistakable sound of the Chidori, and the clones disappear. Half-conscious, he sees Kakashi standing still not far away, hand through Haku's chest, who even injured managed to make it over fast enough to guard Zabuza.

For a second, Naruto's still too, but then he's on his knees on the ground next to Sasuke, forcing him back down when he tries to sit up. "Oh no," Naruto says, and Sasuke looks past him to Kakashi as pulls his hand out of Haku's chest. The other boy falls to the ground, limp. Dead. "You're bleeding. From the head. What do I do?"

Breathing hurts. Thinking hurts. Sasuke blinks, and misses what happens with Kakashi, but Zabuza doesn't seem to be able to move his arms. When he blinks again, there's a crowd on the other side of the bridge, and Sakura and Tazuna next to Naruto, her fingers in Sasuke's hair. Rin's going to kill us, he thinks, and after, his thoughts are drowned out by the sounds of screams.

They've completed the mission. He's the only one to end up injured.

Regardless of what his parents say, Itachi was right after all.

.

For months after the massacre, Sasuke didn't talk. Even after he started again, he barely said more than a paragraph's worth of words a day. When he met Sakura and she started forcing him into conversations, he spoke more, but not by much, and that hasn't changed. On the way home, he feels like he's regressed, because suddenly he's barely saying anything.

He messed up. There's no way around that. Everyone knows it, too. "You did really well," Sakura says anyway as she redoes the bandage on her head, even though she's wrong. "_You're_ the one that got him out. All I did was stand there and do nothing."

"You guarded the client," he says. She tapes it down. "That's what you're supposed to do."

Shrugging, she says, "Someone needed to take care of him. If you're still injured by the time you get home, at least Rin can heal you."

Rin's going to kill him, or at least Kakashi. This wasn't how Sasuke's first real mission was supposed to go. When he shrugs, too, Sakura just sighs. "Seriously, Sasuke. Did Kakashi even seem mad at you? He didn't to me."

Just because Kakashi doesn't seem mad at him doesn't mean he won't be later, which is what happened after the first fight with Zabuza. Sasuke's _supposed_ to be good, he's _expected_ to be. Kakashi and Rin can say however many times they want that it's all right no matter how Sasuke's doing, because he spent his childhood being the person who couldn't get anything right. In the Academy, after he went back, he didn't have to deal with it for a while. Apparently he's not going to be meeting those expectations on missions, where they're really important.

Though Sakura looks at him like she wants to know whatever he's thinking, he keeps it quiet. The only way he could make this worse would be to complain. The last time he complained was six months before Itachi changed, and it resulted in a fight between him and their father so bad the two of them didn't talk for a week.

Except Sasuke doesn't want to think about Itachi. He never wants to think about Itachi.

"Yeah," he says, because agreeing is easy. "I guess you're right."

Sakura brushes his hair out of his bandages. He hopes Kakashi gets the conversation over with sooner rather than later, because there's nothing worse than that disappointed look.

.

One of the many issues with having a parent for a sensei, besides irrational overprotectiveness, is that Sasuke can't avoid the group and have some time to himself. It's not that Kakashi is necessarily into discussing unwanted topics anymore than Sasuke is, but he learned early on he's an exception to the rule.

Kakashi leaves Sakura and Naruto to themselves on the walk home, a little ahead, and hangs back with Sasuke. For the first time in two days, he can't delay this by honestly just falling asleep. "Everyone gets hurt sometimes," Kakashi says before Sasuke can. "It's not your fault you couldn't move in an enclosed space."

In a way, that's true, because Naruto's clones were so close together to break the cage Sasuke barely had breathing room, but he could've lifted his hand to knock the ice away, just like he could've done a better job at dodging the needles that paralyzed his arm. "Right," he says, and his head throbs. Concussions don't go away in two days. "Are you going to tell Rin?"

"I have to," Kakashi answers, glancing at the bandage taped over the stitches on Sasuke's temple. "This was your first A-ranked mission, Sasuke. You don't need to beat yourself up just because you were hurt."

He looks up, and the corner of Kakashi's eye crinkles. He's smiling. "You're not mad?"

"Why would I be mad?"

"Because I screwed up."

"No, you didn't," he says as in front of them, Sakura knocks Naruto on the back of the head. "And it could've been a lot worse. That kid was just a different kind of person compared to the rest of you."

What Kakashi means, Sasuke's guessing, is that they aren't killers. He's only a year younger than when Itachi killed their clan, though. Over the past five years, Sasuke's gotten good at not thinking about that night, or his brother, but this was just a bad reminder of how far behind he is. Maybe it could've been a lot worse, but it could've been better. That's what matters.

"You don't need to overthink it, Sasuke," Kakashi says. "I'll make you something with extra tomatoes and no mushrooms tonight. I'm not above bribing you to get you to stop."

Getting extra tomatoes isn't that uncommon, but no mushrooms is. It's weak, and he probably should be disappointed, but he'd come right out and say it if he was. There's that, at least. "You have to get Rin to agree to that first," Sasuke says, and Kakashi promises he will.

.

After Team Seven returns from the Land of Waves, and Sasuke has to hear how reckless he is again from Rin, they're kept inside Konoha with D-and-C-ranked missions. Naruto spends most of the days trying to become their friend, something Sakura halfheartedly reciprocates, which means Sasuke has to, too. If he didn't at least try, Kakashi would lecture him on the importance of teamwork anyway, but as much as Sasuke understands the principle, he still can't help but find Naruto one of the most annoying people he's ever met.

Even so, they're stuck with each other, and Naruto's with them on whatever they're doing after missions or practice most days. On a late Thursday a month after they return, this actually turns into a good thing, because having him here is better than explaining the overheard conversation to him later.

The plan was to get something for dinner, but now they three of them are ducked under a window between Ichiraku and the bakery that lost and never bothered to replaced its sign, eavesdropping on Kakashi, and three voices Sasuke recognizes but his teammates don't. Gai, Kakashi's self-proclaimed rival whose clothes Rin laughs at, is there, saying, "I put off for a year with my team for a reason. The exams aren't something you shove genin into six months after they graduate."

Sakura's eyebrows shoot up, glancing away from the open window and to Sasuke, who shrugs, as Kurenai says, "I know they're hard, but my team can at least make through for the experience. Besides, it's actually in Konoha this year. Hinata's parents are less likely to murder me by solo mission than if I sent her to Iwa in May."

"My team grew up learning how to work together," Asuma says. "Even if their skill isn't the greatest, their teamwork should get them through. And it's the same thing, they could use the experience. I'm surprised you're taking the risk, Kakashi."

"Because of which one of my students?" Kakashi asks, and Sakura and Naruto glance at Sasuke. "I actually think they all have a shot of advancing, depending."

Instead of Asuma, it's Kurenai who says, "Yeah, 'depending.' There's always judgment in the home village. I know you and Rin have issues with Iwa, but they're more likely to be promoted there."

Whether they're referring to him or Naruto or both, Sasuke doesn't know, but he's offended anyway. Their team's atypical, and he knows it; adults know exactly who he is, Sakura is a civilian's daughter, and Naruto was the worst in their year. There's something else, too, even if Sasuke hasn't figured out what it is yet, because Rin acts too awkward at the sound of Naruto's name.

Someone other than the four by the window laughs loudly, carrying over the rest of the noise. "At least give them a chance," Kakashi says. "They might be surprise you."

Kurenai asks, "How does Rin feel about submitting her kid through this early?" as Gai says, "This wouldn't happen to be about the rumors, would it?"

Again, Naruto and Sakura glance at Sasuke. He shrugs, and tries not to immediately assume the worse. "No," Kakashi says. "They just deserve the opportunity."

"You're right," Asuma says, "but if this is about the rumors, then I guess our security's better."

Kakashi agrees, seemingly bringing the conversation to a close. As Sasuke moves to leave, his teammates follow, but then they all stop when Kurenai sighs. "Itachi _left_ him, Kakashi," she says. "Rin's told me what he said, but it's been five years. If anything was going to happen, it would've by now."

For a moment, Sasuke stops breathing. "I worked with him for a couple years," Kakashi says as Sakura reaches out, gripping Sasuke's wrist. "His patience was unnatural enough when he was sane."

Before he can make a decision whether to stay or go, Sakura's pulling him away towards her house, Naruto not far behind.

.

Everyone knows the story behind the Uchiha massacre. That's one of the reasons Sasuke was so relieved he could change his surname. It wasn't like it fixed everything, though, because more than just Sakura and Naruto figured out who Sasuke was without having to look that hard. People tend not to ask questions or talk about it around him, though, so it's been a long time since he heard the name Itachi spoken aloud.

"Are you okay?" Sakura asks once they're in the privacy of her bedroom. Her parents are both at work, and for the first time, Naruto's here, too. Sasuke wants to forget those ten minutes ever happened, and the only thing worse than talking about the conversation is having Naruto here to listen. "Do you have any idea what they meant?"

Sasuke shakes his head. "My parents haven't said anything."

Though, like most shinobi, they're both good liars, he thought they would mention something like this. It's not like he still has panic attacks, and the nightmares are kept to a minimum. Naruto says, "He's signing us up for the chuunin exams, so it's not all bad, right? And you heard that one guy—security's really good."

"No, it's just in comparison to Iwa," Sasuke says, staring up at the stick-on, glow-in-the-dark stars on Sakura's ceiling. "I don't even know if that's true. Most of that generation don't like Iwa-nin."

"So you have no idea what the rumors they were talking about are?" Sakura asks, and again, Sasuke shakes his head, though he has his suspicions. "Are you going to ask?"

Asking would mean telling how he knows, and that wouldn't go over well. Kakashi didn't mean for them to hear, and worries too much. "Maybe I'll ask Rin," he says before turning his focus to Naruto and adding, "Don't act like you know something, or ask. Just keep it to yourself."

"I wasn't going to," he says, defensive.

"He means it, Naruto," Sakura says, adjusting and tucking her legs under herself. "All you'll get are more stupid rumors."

No one talks about Itachi now, but they used to. Sasuke doesn't need Naruto to hear how alike his teammate is to one of Konoha's most well known ghost stories.

.

A week later, Sasuke hasn't tried to talk to either of his parents, and Kakashi gives the three of them contracts for the chuunin exams. "Do you think I'm ready for this?" Sakura asks, biting her lip and looking over the fine print. They're in the local park, sitting at a picnic table."I barely did anything in the Land of Waves."

"Your chakra control and analytical skills are good," he says, and doesn't think about how at least she stayed conscious. "Besides, Kakashi wouldn't give you the contract if he didn't think you could do it."

He signs his name across the dotted line, and after a moment, she does the same. "I guess if Ino's team can do it," she says, resting her head against her palm, elbow on the table. "What do you think's going to happen?"

Shrugging, he says, "Maybe the Forest of Death?"

Everyone in Konoha knows the Forest of Death, and everyone in Konoha who doesn't want to honor its name avoids it. When classes merged and became co-ed two years before graduation, Iruka's idea of an ice breaker was to assign a project where each pair needed to select an area of the village and make a presentation on it. It was how Sasuke met Sakura, and also how he found out Konoha is home to the largest millipedes in the world. Once they found that out, they left the portion on wildlife as a sidenote, and Iruka hadn't taken points off from it.

"I wouldn't put it past them," she says, and frowns. What first caught his attention about her was her hair, and then how good her memory is. "Okay, so, it makes sense that we'll all have to do one on one fighting at some point, right? Would that mean whoever loses doesn't make it to chuunin?"

"How would I know?" he says. "Kakashi's not going to tell me how this test's broken down. If it is, I guess that just means you have to win."

That doesn't sound very reassuring even by his low standards, but she doesn't comment, and switches the subject to a potential written portion instead.

.

**A/N: **sorry the last line is so awful, by that point I just wanted to get this out.


End file.
